Children of Slain Chabad Woman in Better Condition

The husband and children of Mirah Scharf are in better condition Friday after suffering wounds in the rocket attack that took her life.

By Maayana Miskin

First Publish: 11/16/2012, 2:09 PM

Mirah Scharf (right)

Courtesy of the family

The husband and children of Mirah Scharf are in better condition Friday after being wounded Thursday morning in a rocket attack on Kiryat Malachi.

The four remain hospitalized in Tel Hashomer. Father Shmuel, 29, is in moderate condition, four-year-old Yosef Yitzchak is in moderate to light condition, and young Hana (2) and Geula (8 months) are both in good condition.

The children have not yet been told that their mother was killed in the attack.

The Scharf family was in Israel temporarily, and normally lives in New Delhi, India, where they serve as Chabad emissaries and usually host 100 people for Sabbath meals.

They were intending to attend a memorial ceremony Thursday forGavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the young Chabad couple murdered by terrorists four years ago in Mumbai, India.

Mirah Scharf was killed in the attack, as were Ahron Smadja, 49, and Yitzchak Amsallem, 24. Her funeral Thursday was attended by many of the Israeli backpackers who met her in India.

Her father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoshua Scharf, recalled her as devoted to her work. “In our generation everyone is looking for luxury, but they lived in minimalist conditions in a Chabad house that was open to the public 24 hours a day,” he said.